Procrastination Is a Thief: How to Reclaim Your Lost Time

It's tempting to put off tasks, especially if it’s an assignment we don’t enjoy and we ignore it despite how we have all experienced the stress of rushing a chore before its deadline. But why do we accept this fate, even knowing the consequences? 

Procrastination is the act of delaying tasks until the last minute or past their deadline, despite being aware there could be negative consequences. This common experience is not just a time-management problem, but a failure in self-regulation that leads us to act irrationally.   

No matter how organised, how committed or how determined you are, chances are you will find yourself frittering your hours away scrolling through TikTok, shopping online and much more. Researchers have found that while some people are better at motivating themselves to tackle unpleasant tasks, procrastination is a highly prevalent problem, where almost 75% of college students describe themselves as habitual procrastinators. 

But what causes procrastination? 

The pleasure principle may be responsible for procrastination; one may prefer to avoid negative emotions by delaying stressful tasks. In 2019, Rinaldi et al conducted research indicating that measurable cognitive impairment may play a role in procrastination. As the deadline creeps closer, they became more stressed and ultimately decided to procrastinate more to avoid this stress. Some psychologists cite such behaviour as a mechanism for coping with anxiety associated with starting any task. 

Negative coping responses to procrastination tend to be avoidant or emotional rather than task-oriented or focused on problem-solving, which means we avoid the stress. This option employs pleasure and is consequently very attractive to impulsive procrastinators. There are several coping responses of procrastinators, including: 

Denial: Pretending that procrastinatory behaviour is not actually procrastination, but rather that another task is more important than the one avoided. 

Distraction: Engrossing or immersing oneself in other behaviours or actions to prevent awareness of the task 

Valorisation: Pointing to what one has achieved in the meantime 

Blaming: Delusion attributed to external factors 

Mocking: Using humour to validate one's procrastinations 

You might find yourself wondering how you can stop procrastinating. 

Fortunately, there a variety of different things to fight against it, such as: 

Make a to-do list - helps you maintain assignments and tasks by using things such as due dates, an estimated time the task will take and separating each task into certain groups and tasks 

Recognise the warning signs - pay attention to any thoughts and do your best to resist the urge by forcing yourself to spend a few minutes working on your task 

Eliminate distractions - ask yourself what pulls your attention away the most and eliminate those sources of distractions 

If you put things off sometimes, don’t worry; it happens to all of us. Whilst it is common, it is important to remember that this behaviour can lead to serious consequences both emotionally and physically and affect your ability to succeed at work and school. If you are struggling with this problem, you could speak to your personal tutors, teachers of your chosen subjects, parents, careers, friends, etc. Alternatively, you can go to the Colleges study skills, seen on the student hub, which shows a variety of different revision techniques, organisations and so much more. 

Leah James

Sources: 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination 

 https://snugfam.com/the-cost-of-procrastination-is-the-life-quote-wisdom-impact/ 

  https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-procrastination-2795944#